The Mech Touch

Now that Major Verle explained the three legs that supported his proposed mech combat doctrine, it was time to tie them all together.

Ves looked thoughtful as he processed what he learned.

"The three strategies each support and complement each other." Major Verle repeated. "On their own, they are fairly strong, but if we employ all three of them at the same time, we can achieve greater results. This is not a guess. This is an outcome that we have already proven in our previous battles. Combining glows, elite mechs and clever maneuvering can allow us to achieve quick, decisive victories while suffering minimal losses. Of course, this doesn't apply to enemies that are too strong or numerous. Quantity alone can overcome everything as long as the differences are large enough."

"As long as we don't pick fights against states or powerful organizations, we should be fine. Our Larkinson Clan isn't weak in the slightest. At the very least, most private sector outfits should steer clear of us. I doubt anyone wants to tussle against thousands of second-class mechs."

With an abundance of money and more and more mech pilots reaching second-class standards, Ves just had to design all of the second-class mechs needed to elevate the Avatars, Sentinels and other units to a new height.

The Penitent Sisters, while rather annoying and restrictive, were still very strong.

As for the newly-named Glory Seekers, the Wodin Dynasty invested heavily in bringing them up to full strength, which meant the Larkinson Clan would soon be traveling in the company of a complete second-class mech regiment!

Such strength already far surpassed most second-class outfits! Only larger organizations based in states such as the Garlen Empire or the Heavensword Association could rival such a formidable lineup!

"We still have the Friday Coalition on our backs, sir."

"...You have a point."

They talked some more about Major Verle's thoughts on his mech doctrine. This discussion directly affected the future of the Larkinson Clan's military development, so Ves tried his best to weigh the matter seriously.

He was just a mech designer, though. The logic that Major Verle employed to support his arguments all sounded impeccable, but who knew whether he was really right.

"How much have you discussed these ideas with other military specialists in our clan?"

"Extensively, sir. Many of the Larkinson military veterans who I've spoken with agree with my ideas. The trueblood Larkinsons are very familiar with some of my concepts as they are also widely-used in the Mech Corps back when we served. The input of those who come from other states and possess different backgrounds such as Calabast and Commander Chancy has allowed us to refine our plans and close some of the loopholes. This is a project that has involved many brilliant minds."

"I see."

The mech doctrine already looked mature enough to be implemented right away. In fact, the different mech forces of the Larkinson Clan already followed many aspects of it to a large extent. What the Larkinsons mainly needed to do was to unify their individual and disparate efforts in order to follow a single, cohesive development trajectory. The clansmen also needed to start additional initiatives in order to bolster the three legs.

To Ves, the most pertinent issue right now was to establish a more systematic cooperation between his Design Department and the clan's respective mech troops.

Verle gestured at Ves. "Right now, the model with regards to mech acquisition is partially a simple top-down process. You, the clan patriarch, simply chooses what mechs the Larkinson Clan needs based on your own personal judgement, mood, feelings and other random factors. Right now, that happens to be a heavy artillery mech. While I do not disagree with this addition, it's better if the selection process involves more sources of input."

In other words, Ves should stop deciding what mechs to design for the clan by himself. That was something that he was already willing to adopt.

"I will take that into account next time, major. For now, the Cat's Paw Project is already at an advanced stage. It's too much of a waste to halt the project and throw all of that design work away."

Ves briefly brought Major Verle up to speed on the Cat's Paw. The heavy artillery mech design that partially adhered to Hexer design principles possessed many of the same traits as other designs in the same price category.

It's remarkable glow was the primary reason for its existence.

"Remember my Deliverer design? I want to design a much more formidable second-class mech that possesses much more firepower with similar predictive targeting abilities. There are a number of limitations, though. The most critical one is that only devout Ylvainan mech pilots are comparative with such glows."

"So your Cat's Paw is essentially an Ylvainan mech design."

Ves reluctantly nodded.

"That.. is an issue, but not a big one." Major Verle responded after a brief pause. "There are hundreds of Ylvainan mech pilots in our clan. As far as I'm aware of, their numbers are slowly expanding as they have begun to convert some receptive clansmen to their.. faith."

Both of them grimaced at that. As Brighters, they possessed a dim view on religion. Even so, both of them knew that the Ylvainans and their faith were here to stay.

"Whatever they believe in makes them useful. The Deliverer's extraordinary targeting assistance is not something that I can replicate without involving the Ylvainan Faith. I believe strongly that the Cat's Paw will be able to save much more lives and defeat enemies considerably faster if it possesses the same capability."

"On the surface, I can see the logic."

Major Verle thought back on his memories of seeing the Deliverer in action. The Vandals fought alongside them several times during the Sand War. Each time, the Ylvainan marksman mechs managed to snipe the sandman admirals hidden in the middle of a swarm with unerring judgement!

While a heavy artillery mech on land or locked inside a bunker wouldn't be asked to find a needle in a haystack, the predictive targeting assistance could still play a huge role in a battle.

The main problem with long-ranged combat was that the hit rates were abysmal, especially in space.

With hundreds or thousands of kilometers separating both sides, even a 0.01 degree deviation in aim resulted in solid misses. If this pattern was repeated on a larger scale, then that effectively meant that most of the ranged mechs of the Larkinsons quite frankly wasted at least 90 percent of their energy and ammunition!

Lightspeed weapons such as laser rifles boasted the best accuracy at longer ranges, while physical weapons such as ballistic rifles fared much worse.

Even so, factors such as imperfect sensors, enemy ECM, environmental interference, mech-based limitations all reduced the hit rate of laser weapons as well.

This was where Ylvaine's spiritual fragment could play a great role. As long as this precognitive bastard fed its predictions on the enemy's evasion patterns to the mech pilots of the Cat's Paws, the latter could easily nail their hard-to-hit targets before they came close enough to pose a threat!

While Major Verle easily understood Ves' intentions for this mech design, from his perspective the design came with a few problems.

"I don't know enough about tech to comment about the way you put the mech together." Verle said. "What I can do is provide you with my feedback on how this mech is supposed to integrate in the clan's mech roster. First, you have already established that the Cat's Paw is piloted exclusively by Ylvainans. Now, which of our mech troops do they fit in? The Avatars? The Sentinels?"

Ves blinked. "Uhmm.. I guess I haven't thought about that. Since heavy artillery mechs are static or slow-moving machines, the Cat's Paw should fit well with the Living Sentinels."

"That's a decent option, but not a flawless one. The Living Sentinels have adopted rules and regulations that makes their mech pilots significantly less diligent and trained than their counterparts in the Avatars and other mech forces. That is not entirely bad because there is a larger number of eligible mech pilots who meet the standard of the Sentinels. What I am asking is whether you want the mech pilots of these important mechs to treat their responsibilities as a job."

"If you put it that way, then the Living Sentinels is not a good choice. Their culture is not as strict or demanding towards their mech pilots. Considering the key role that the Cat's Paw can play in many battles, I want their mech pilots to hold themselves to a much higher standard. Perhaps they fit better with the Avatars of Myth."

Verle shook his head. "The Avatars of Myth are slowly developing in the direction of an assault force. While such a specialization doesn't preclude them from adopting a heavy artillery mech, it is not needed. If we want to pursue our new doctrine to the fullest, then it is best to set up many specialized elite mech troops instead of a handful of broader ones."

"If the Cat's Paw doesn't fit with the Avatars of Myth, then where else can they go? Certainly not the Flagrant Vandals."

"We performed a difference back when we were still a part of the Mech Corps, sir. The Larkinson Clan has very different needs and traits, hence our decision to specialize in reconnaissance and mobility. The Akkara mechs that we currently possess are largely holdovers from our prior service. Their importance has been reduced to using them as bunker mechs. Since it's a lastgen mech, the Vandals would really like to replace it with something better and more modern."

Ves thought about what the major said. The Larkinson Clan was set to acquire a lot of ships with bunkers placed on their hulls. All of those bunkers needed to be filled with heavy mechs.

No matter if the ship belonged to the Avatars, Sentinels, Swordmaidens or whatnot, it was best if each of their bunkers were put to good use! Otherwise, wouldn't they be throwing away this powerful defensive tool?

Yet assigning them to a specific force was not the ideal solution. He suddenly recalled one of Major Verle's recommendations.

"In order to ensure that the Cat's Paw model is used to its fullest, you need to put them in a unit that specializes in such." Ves concluded. "The best solution therefore is to put them in a dedicated artillery-focused mech force!"

He was not entirely unfamiliar with them. He recalled that Jannzi Larkinson used to serve in the Apocalypse Heralds of the Mech Corps. The mech regiment was famed for their love of heavy mechs and artillery warfare.

Sadly, the Larkinson Clan wasn't close to any collapsing state that lost their grip on artillery mech regiments. There was no feasible way for him to acquire them in the short term.

A sudden idea came to mind. "What if we start our own artillery-focused mech force regardless of the cost?"

"We will have to invest years in building up its mech roster, pilot roster, culture, customs, tactics and martial traditions." Major Verle immediately replied. "This is not that easy. How long has it been since you founded the Avatars of Myth and Living Sentinels? While their current performance is rather satisfactory, they are still developing their fighting styles to this day. Their foundations are still too shallow, and now you want to add a third mech force to the mix."

Though Ves agreed with his points, he didn't think it was as cumbersome as the major thought.

"Our Larkinson Clan is large enough to accommodate an extra developing elite mech force. I'm thinking.. whether it's a good idea to set up a dedicated Ylvainan mech force that is solely designed to maximize their unique targeting advantage. Not just artillery mechs, but other powerful long-ranged mechs can be included in its mech roster!"

Though Ves ordinarily loathed anything related to Ylvaine, he found it quite intriguing. How strong would this new mech force be if it completely dedicated itself towards a single design spirit?